Beach Park couple tracked through snow

Police followed footprints in the snow for more than a mile and a half, leading to the arrest of a couple alleged to be responsible for at least 18 store burglaries in northern Illinois.

Dennis Abel, 34, was apprehended at his Beach Park mobile home after Zion police tracked him through woods and ravines, over fences and through yards -- all in single-digit temperatures -- from the site of five burglaries committed early Wednesday along Sheridan Road, Police Chief Larry Booth said.

Also apprehended was Kamee Andrekus, 30, who lives with Abel in the 38000 block of Sheridan Road, and allegedly drove or accompanied Abel to all of the burglaries, Assistant State's Atty. Steve Scheller said. Both were charged with six burglaries in Zion, five on Wednesday that netted less than $100 and one on Monday, authorities said.

Abel entered each business by breaking out a window in an effort to take money from the cash register, Booth said. On Thursday, Abel and Andrekus were charged in five burglaries in Beach Park and unincorporated Lake County, and seven burglaries at Waukegan restaurants and beauty salons since Jan. 11, authorities said.

Bail for Abel and Andrekus has been set at $150,000 each, Scheller said.

Authorities are investigating whether the couple may have been involved in unsolved burglaries in Pleasant Prairie, Wis., Booth said.